A single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson is highly effective in preventing serious illness and death for the Delta and Beta variants of the coronavirus. This is the answer of a clinical study conducted in South Africa, the first test in the real world on the effectiveness of the vaccine against the Delta variant, considered highly contagious. The South African Ministry of Health reported these preliminary findings at a press conference, noting that they have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
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In the study, called Sisonke, researchers evaluated a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in nearly 500,000 healthcare workers, at high risk of Covid-19. The vaccine has been shown to be up to 95% effective against Delta variant death and up to 71% against hospitalization. The researchers also pointed out that the single-dose vaccine generated slightly lower immune responses against the Beta variant, which is thought to be more adept at evading the immune response than Delta.
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“We believe this vaccine is doing what it was designed to do, which is to prevent people from going to hospital and ending up in intensive care. Or even die,” said the doctor. Linda-Gail Bekker, co-lead of the study and director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Center at the University of Cape Town.
Good news, which disproves the fear that a single dose might not be enough against the Delta variant, which is much more contagious and is rampant everywhere.
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